There exists techniques capable of determining whether a signal is a “linear” or “non-linear” frequency modulated (FM) signal. One technique requires the detection of a first or start frequency and an end frequency of a signal. The slope of a line connecting these two frequencies is then used to determine the linearity of the signal.
A signal is considered to be a linear FM signal when, over a given time period, frequency components of the signal fall within a lower or upper bound slope. When this does not occur, the signal is said to be a non-linear FM signal.
Unfortunately, conventional systems that implement this technique require a significant amount of memory and, relatively speaking, a long period of time to determine the linearity of a signal.
More specifically, conventional systems require that all of the components of a given signal (i.e., pulse of a signal) must first be detected and stored in memory before determining the slope of a line connecting a start and end frequency. The time period which elapses between the detection and storage of the components and the subsequent calculation of a slope is unacceptable. In addition, in order to store all of the components, a large amount of memory is required. This is also unacceptable.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for techniques which can determine whether a signal is a linear or non-linear FM signal faster than previously thought possible.
It is further desirable to provide for techniques capable of making such determinations using less memory than conventional techniques.